The growing power of a group of key authoritarian states presents a new set of challenges to the democratic world that is progressively undercutting the liberal international order. These countries—China, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela—are at the cutting edge of domestic political repression, ruthlessly suppressing political speech and rigging the marketplace of ideas at home, while they energetically participate in the open marketplace for ideas beyond their borders.

However, what sets these regimes apart is their willingness and capacity to reshape the international order. While these five countries have divergent interests, they all agree on the goal of containing the spread of democracy and of weakening the influence of democratic states in the world. The challenge is being taken to an entirely new level by virtue of these regimes’ projection of illiberal values and standards into the global arena.

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